recommend a unit with good iPod control

[batpot 10+ year member]

Just hooked up a JVC KD-ADV49, and while it does what I want it to w/ the iPod, it is EXTREMELY SLOW.

Unusably slow; I can scroll through albums/artists/songs, etc, but it can only display 6 or so at a time, and when you hit the down arrow to display the next set, it takes a good 2-3 seconds to load the next screen.

The screen is also extremely underwhelming...I know it's small, but it's bigger than the ipod screen, and the album art looks worse. Video playback is equally horrible.

Any suggestions for a head unit that can display album art, and has fast, intuitive ipod control?

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[manny1337 10+ year member]

alpines ida series is a great hu for the ipod. I run the ida-x100 myself.

 

[chornet44 10+ year member]

i like the eclipse units, you have to buy the cable but it has no delays and quality is good. cd5000, and cd3000 i personally use.

 

[tehWorstest]

CDA 9886 or 9887, ida-x303 or x305.

Alpine Ipod **** is second to none.

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

my kenwood x993 does great with my iphone. i had a few of the ida line and did not like the sound from any of them.

 

[CarAudioNewbie9 10+ year member]

Kenwood 942u or 993

 

[Oneswtredhead 10+ year member]

pioneers have the best Ipod and HDD control of any deck made. they have been awarded an award for it for the last 3 yrs at ces.

 

[batpot 10+ year member]

In addition to the clunky album/artist/genre navigation, the JVC unit I had would take 10-15 seconds to load each track's information, and would not let you skip to the next track or respond to most user commands until it was done loading; ridiculous.

Thanks for the recommendations!

My only hesitation w/ the alpines is a lack of disc player.

I would really like album art display, but I can live w/out it.

I was considering the kenwood x993, but this review changed my mind:



Good to know about eclipse's ipod control, I haven't been able to find much info on them.

Everything I can find says pioneer and alpine have pretty much nailed it, but to get a cd and album art display, the price jumps up pretty quick, and when you go from single to double din, you almost always lose the security of a detachable face.

 

[nineball 10+ year member]

I was considering the kenwood x993, but this review changed my mind:

dunno if it is his ipod or what but my 993 has never taken anywhere near that amount of time to search. i run an iphone 3g with ~14.5g of music files.

 

[batpot 10+ year member]

dunno if it is his ipod or what but my 993 has never taken anywhere near that amount of time to search. i run an iphone 3g with ~14.5g of music files.

you're the 2nd person on here now to say it works fine.

unfortunately though, he's got the same ipod as me...

Granted on the video, he is searching song titles, which would be a much longer list than albums or artists, but 46 seconds is insane!

I'll just have to make sure I can return it if I go that route.

 

[PJK485 10+ year member]

Yea the Alpine 9886 works well with Ipod and it has a disc player and usb. JVC double dins have detachable faces and the ipod works well on those also. The 820 offers Ipod/Iphone, usb, bluetooth, detachable face, dvd...

 

[[DT] 10+ year member]

Another Alpine IDA-X100/305 recommendation here. Fast iPOD interface, terrific UI, supports MP3 (320Kbps), AAC (576Kbps I believe) and ALAC (Apple Lossless). The iPOD sends a digital bitstream and uses the HUs 24bit DA converter. It will also play music directly from a USB source like a thumb drive. Plenty of expansion options for Bluetooth, better EQ functions, etc., album art, two colors, custom backgrounds.

I was done with lugging CDs around, so for me, the exclusion of a CD drive was no big deal (and ALAC is available for ultra high quality for those concerned about MP3 SQ).

 

[batpot 10+ year member]

strike 2 to JVC; they won't have an opportunity for a 3rd strike.

I bought their JVC AVX 820, and it did not recognize my 5th (or 5.5) gen ipod at all, even after buying the KSU30 cable. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/furious.gif.fc81ca146dbff91fede3ed290dbc4f4c.gif

The ipod would get powered, but that was it.

I put the ipod in disk mode, and then the HU would read "restricted device".

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/verymad.gif.3f39c5c2fd57527b671fad3efdfac756.gif **** this company.

but...now I really want a touch screen, which means I'll have to sacrifice the security of a detachable face.

I really really wanted this unit to work; it had everything.

oh well....leaning towards the pioneer AVH-4100, which of course doesn't have bluetooth.

 

[SAZCLASSD 10+ year member]

i like the eclipse units, you have to buy the cable but it has no delays and quality is good. cd5000, and cd3000 i personally use.

i agree.....i have the eclipse CD5030 and have no delay problems at all.

 

[audioimpactxx]

Alpine all day